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THN.com Blog: The irritating loser point

Back in early December, I wrote a blog entry on how I detest the “loser point” to the core of my being and provided how the standings would look if the NHL used a straight “two points for a win, none for a loss” system.

To save you having to click, the conclusion was, using either system, little changed in the standings.

A few readers, however, suggested comparing the systems so early in the season didn’t provide enough time for discrepancies to occur.

So with that in mind, here are the standings - not including Wednesday’s games – without the loser point. Division leaders are ranked 1-2-3.

CURRENT NHL STANDINGS

EASTERN

WESTERN

W

L

OTL

Pts

W

L

OTL

Pts

1 Ottawa

30

15

4

64

1 Detroit

36

10

4

76

2 New Jersey

28

17

3

59

2 Dallas

28

19

5

61

3 Carolina

24

24

4

52

3 Calgary

25

17

8

58

4 Pittsburgh

27

17

4

58

4 Anaheim

27

18

6

60

5 Montreal

25

15

8

58

5 San Jose

26

15

7

59

6 Philadelphia

26

16

5

57

6 Minnesota

27

19

3

57

7 Islanders

24

19

6

54

7 Colorado

26

19

4

56

8 Boston

24

19

5

53

8 Vancouver

25

19

5

55

9 Rangers

23

21

6

52

9 Nashville

25

20

4

54

10 Washington

22

21

5

49

10 Columbus

24

20

6

54

11 Atlanta

23

25

3

49

11 Phoenix

25

21

2

52

12 Florida

22

24

4

48

12 St. Louis

22

18

6

50

13 Buffalo

20

21

6

46

13 Chicago

23

22

4

50

14 Toronto

19

22

8

46

14 Edmonton

22

24

5

49

15 Tampa Bay

20

24

5

45

15 Los Angeles

19

29

2

40

NHL STANDINGS W/O OTL

EASTERN

WESTERN

W

L

Pts.

W

L

Pts.

1 Ottawa

30

19

60

1 Detroit

36

14

72

2 New Jersey

28

20

56

2 Dallas

28

24

56

3 Carolina

24

28

48

3 Minnesota

27

22

54

4 Pittsburgh

27

21

54

4 Anaheim

27

24

54

5 Philadelphia

26

21

52

5 San Jose

26

22

52

6 Montreal

25

23

50

6 Colorado

26

23

52

7 Boston

24

24

48

7 Phoenix

25

23

50

8 Islanders

24

25

48

8 Nashville

25

24

50

9 Rangers

23

27

46

9 Vancouver

25

24

50

10 Atlanta

23

28

46

10 Calgary

25

25

50

11 Washington

22

26

44

11 Columbus

24

26

48

12 Florida

22

28

44

12 Chicago

23

26

46

13 Buffalo

20

27

40

13 St. Louis

22

24

44

14 Tampa Bay

20

29

40

14 Edmonton

22

29

44

15 Toronto

19

30

38

15 Los Angeles

19

31

38

As you can see, little changes.

In the East, the division leaders stay the same and no team moves up or down more than one spot.

In the West, Minnesota overtakes Calgary (who would drop to 10th) in the Northwest to take the No. 3 spot and Phoenix goes from 11th to seventh. Other than that, no team moves two spots higher or lower.

But math aside, the aspect of the “loser point” that irritates me the most – though needing a quantum physics degree to figure out the standings is perturbing in and of itself - is the very fact we need to reward losers in the first place.

This is a philosophy that, in theory, coddles teams and their fans by providing them with falsified above-.500 records and a supposed “it’s OK that we lost, we still got a point” attitudes.

In the same breath, teams can easily achieve extended winning streaks with overtime wins included, but losing streaks are a thing of the past, replaced by winless stretches (a.k.a. “We haven’t won a game in three weeks, but we do have points in seven of our last 12”).

It’s insulting, really.

Whether in regulation, OT or the shootout, a win is a win and a loss is a loss.

Anything else is just pseudo-P.C. pandering.

Edward Fraser is the editor of thehockeynews.com. His blog appears Thursdays.

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